The rise in sea level since the last ice age has prevented us from feeling the full impact of man-made global warming. The sea level rise has resulted in more harmful greenhouse gases being absorbed by the seas. So argue Bangor University scientists in the latest issue of Geophysical Research Letters (23/12/08), an influential US scientific journal publishing scientific advances that are likely to have immediate influence on the research of other investigators.

Over the last 22,000 years, since the last ice age, global sea level has risen by 130 m. Research by Bangor scientists Tom Rippeth and James Scourse have calculated the impact of this sea-level rise on the ability of the ocean to absorb the greenhouse gas CO2 from the atmosphere.

Currently only about half of man made CO2 emissions stay in the atmosphere. The remaining 50% are absorbed by the oceans and land-based systems such as forests. The shallow continental shelf seas, such as the North Sea, are thought to play a particularly important role in absorbing CO2 from the atmosphere

Understanding the processes controlling the absorption of CO2 on land and sea is crucial to understanding and predicting future climate change. Looking at past climates helps us understand more about how our climate works.

"We are currently getting a 50% 'discount' on the climatic impact of our fossil fuel emissions. Unfortunately, we have no guarantee that the 50% discount will continue, and if it disappears we will feel the full climatic brunt of our unrelenting emission of carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels."

The growth of plankton in the ocean acts as an important mechanism to absorb CO2 from the atmosphere.

Professor James Scourse, Royal Society Senior Research Fellow at the School continues: "We have been looking at how the strength of this CO2 sink has increased since the last age (22,000 years ago), as sea level has risen by about 130 m. During this time the continental shelf seas have grown by 400% - flooding an area of land equivalent to twice the area of the USA.

By combining reconstructions of past landscapes with numerical models, confirmed using fossils collected from the sea bed, we have simulated the size of this CO2 sink over the past 22,000 years. In doing so we have shown that sea-level rise has resulted in a significant increase in the ocean uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere. Our results are consistent with the timing of changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration measured in Antarctic ice cores,"

However, this impact is dwarfed when compared to the impact which man has had over the past 100 years by burning fossil fuels.

The results, however, show that without the rise in sea level, and consequent flooding of the shelf seas, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere would be rising at an even faster rate due to man's activities than it currently is.

In effect, past sea-level rise has helped put a brake on the impact of anthropogenic CO2 emissions on the atmosphere.

The rise in sea level since the last ice age has prevented us from feeling the full impact of man-made global warming. The sea level rise has resulted in more harmful greenhouse gases being absorbed by the seas.

So, they are saying complicated and not completely understood changes in natural systems helps to alter what is claimed as settled science. It look like a backhanded admission that things aren’t really as bad as the “scientists” have been predicting.

If "the science is settled", then there would not be so many competing theories as to why we aren't "feeling it"; why it "seems" to be cooling when it is "really" warming; how it is "being masked", and all the rest of it.

That doesn't even bring up the other competing work that shows it is just plain nonsense; a non-issue; or otherwise refutes the nonsense.

Ok, i thought global warming caused higher sea levels. But higher sea levels absorb more carbon. So, should we want higher sea levels to balance the higher carbon levels. This is just retarded.

The problem with AGW climate models, or any climate models, is the fact that planetary climate is a coupled non-linear chaotic system that is nearly impossible to model or predict. That is precisely why you see so many idiotic articles like this. The truth is, they don’t know exactly what the hell the earth’s atmosphere is doing, not do they know what it WILL do.

By combining reconstructions of past landscapes with numerical models, confirmed using fossils collected from the sea bed, we have simulated the size of this CO2 sink over the past 22,000 years. In doing so we have shown that sea-level rise has resulted in a significant increase in the ocean uptake of CO2 from the atmosphere. Our results are consistent with the timing of changes in atmospheric CO2 concentration measured in Antarctic ice cores,"

Uh-oh! Where did that CO^2 come from, since we were not creating it? How much got 'sucked out' of the atmosphere that was naturally there, as the sea rose, and without that 'loss', minus the miniscule % we've added over the last 1,000 (to be generous) years, what would the level be now---much higher---n'est-ce pas?

Plants grow in proportion to how much sunlight, water, and CO2 is available. There have been countless professional studies and grade school science projects that have PROVEN that higher levels of COCO2 causes the plants to grow FASTER, which in turn absorb more CO2.

22
posted on 01/13/2009 12:41:22 PM PST
by Blood of Tyrants
(Obama is living proof that stupid people should not be allowed to vote.)

If "the science is settled", then there would not be so many competing theories as to why we aren't "feeling it"; why it "seems" to be cooling when it is "really" warming; how it is "being masked", and all the rest of it.

In the end, all these excuses as to why global warming hasn't caused the predicted apocalypse, are just nothing more than the Liberal's 21st century's verison of "God works in mysterious ways"

25
posted on 01/13/2009 12:51:42 PM PST
by qam1
(There's been a huge party. All plates and the bottles are empty, all that's left is the bill to pay)

The rise in sea level since the last ice age has prevented us from feeling the full impact of man-made global warming. The sea level rise has resulted in more harmful greenhouse gases being absorbed by the seas.

Okay, this is nuts............

Just a little. Translation...

The natural global warming of the last 40k years has made detection of any evidence of man-made caused global warming impossible.

Disclaimer:
Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual
posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its
management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the
exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.